By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU
HOLMWOOD TECHNICAL and Seaforth High will meet in one of several mouth-watering match-ups in the quarter-finals of the Ben Francis KO this afternoon.
After just failing to advance to the top four of the daCosta Cup, either team will advance to the semi-final of the Knock Out after their meeting at Prison Oval.
Two of the matches will feature the four daCosta Cup semi-finalists as six-time champions Cornwall College and three-time winners Clarendon College meet at St. Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) and Titchfield will tackle Frome Technical at Drax Hall.
In the other game, Munro College and Dinthill will meet at Brancourt.
All games will start at 3:00 p.m.
The Ben Francis KO, which is in its 11th season, was expanded to eight teams from the four semi-finalists by organisers ISSA (Inter Secondary Schools Sports Association) in an effort to inject more interest in the competition.
The games were originally scheduled to be played on October 29 but were pushed back as rain had forced the rescheduling of several games in the Pepsi/Sports Plus daCosta Cup inter-zone round.
While the clashes between the daCosta Cup semi-finalists will attract the most attention, it will leave the door wide open for the other four schools to shoot for another semi-final and some redemption.
Seaforth failed to make it to their first ever semi-finals, losing out on goal difference to Frome against which they drew 0-0 at Drax Hall on Saturday, while Holmwood's demise resulted from their 3-2 loss to Titchfield in a game they only needed to draw to advance.
The winner will face either Cornwall or Clarendon in the next round, scheduled to be played on November 19.
If current form is anything to go by Munro are the only sure winners, as they will come up against a Dinthill team that imploded over their last three games. After going undefeated the entire season, Dinthill lost those three matches, conceding seven goals while managing to score just one.
Munro meanwhile were unlucky, drawing 2-2 with Titchfield then losing 1-0 to Holmwood in a game they dominated, before drawing 1-1 with Cornwall.
The games involving the daCosta Cup semi-finalists are difficult to predict as coaches have been known to take a different approach to the Ben Francis competition after qualifying for the more prestigious daCosta Cup semi-finals.
